The Ark
The Ark is the sixth episode in the second season of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Main Characters The main characters featured in this episode are: *Kwame *Wheeler *Linka *Gi *Ma-Ti *Captain Planet *Gaia *Hoggish Greedly *Doctor Blight *Collector *Mohan Plot Synopsis '' While the Planeteers are trying to stop Greedly and Dr. Blight's deforesting golf cart from turning the Indian rainforest into a golf course, an Indian community goes against the Planeteers' wishes, since Greedly paid them. That night, while the Planeteers and an Indian tiger tracker named Mohan try to save the tigers, two of the tigers and the Planeteers and Mohan are taken out of nowhere. The Planeteers exchange greetings with a strange creature, a 70,000-year-old alien named Collector, and realize they are aboard an intergalactic menagerie on her spaceship, which she calls the "Space Ark ". The notice the place has many magnificent and extinct animals from several worlds including Earth. Among the extinct (due to anthropogenic threats) creatures present in the exhibits are the mammoth, mastodon, giant ground sloth Megatherium americanum, woolly rhino, saber-toothed tiger, giant monitor lizard Megalania priscus, dodo, great auk, elephant bird, and passenger pigeon. But as the Planeteers get acquainted to the place they soon realize that they are not visitors, but a collection.'' Episode Summary None yet. Planeteer Alerts None yet. Significant Moments and Facts •The 'elephant bird' whom Linka points out has more the physique of the moa Dinornis maximus, another extinct giant flightless bird, from New Zealand. The actual elephant bird, Aepyornis titan, lived in Madagascar. Also, the great auk is not to scale with it; the auk should be only about a sixth of the moa's height, rather than a third. •The correct name for the saber-toothed 'tiger' is saber-toothed 'cat'. Smilodon fatalis, the type species, was not closely related to tigers. •The 'mastodon' whom Collector points out is actually the shovel-tusker Platybelodon grangeri (rather than Mammut americanum, the familiar American mastodon), another extinct relative of the elephant. Platybelodon was about 5.5 feet high at the shoulders and weighed 3.75 tons, and lived during the late Miocene, no later than 5 million B. C. (which means that its extinction had nothing to do with humans). This indicates that Collector is at least 6 million years old, and not 'only 70,000', as she claims. Quotes Mohan: I am the best tiger tracker this forest will ever see. Wheeler: Mohan, you're the last tiger tracker this forest will ever see. Their home is history. Mohan: Do not worry. The tigers will be fine in a zoo. (he departs, and Gaia appears) Gaia: (to the Planeteers) ''I wish that were true. But the truth isn't so pretty. Take a look at your Planet Vision. ''(she shows them an image of a pair of tigers in a zoo, with their natural habitat roughly recreated) Linka: Kaneshna! Gaia: A good zoo tries to recreate the animals' natural home. But if all the wilderness is destroyed, these magnificent animals... (she shows them an image of at least seven tigers in another zoo, in a bare, concrete cage) Gaia: ...will end up in cramped, concrete prisons. Still, for the tigers of this forest, it's this--or extermination. Gi: (notices the alien creatures featured in an exhibit on Collector's spaceship, the Space Ark) You must have incredible animals from hundreds of worlds! Collector: Not as many as you think, Gi. Of all the miracles in the Universe, the rarest is life. That's why it's so precious to me. And even where life occurs, it is not always secure. Wheeler: (of Collector's Ice Age exhibit) Collector, this is way cool! Hey, you got any dinosaurs? Collector: A few million years before my time. Wait a minute. How old do I look? I'm only 70,000, you know. Gi: You don't look a day over 40,000. Collector: Well, thanks, Gi. Collector: ''(points out another exhibit of hers, which features extinct birds)'' This exhibit came from my last trip to Earth, 400 years ago. Linka: Look! A great auk! An elephant bird! A passenger pigeon! Ma-Ti: Linka's hobby is birds, Mohan. She knows them all. Linka: Oh, and a dodo! Wheeler: (laughing) Good name for it! What a dumb-lookin' thing! Linka: Oh, nyet, Wheeler. It is...most beautiful. I never thought I would see any of those birds alive. They were hunted to extinction years ago. Gallery Add images here. Category:Season 2 Category:Episodes